Do you charge for a valuation?
No. A valuation from Bowman Real Estate costs nothing, and asking for one creates no obligation. Any fee is set later, in a written brokerage agreement, which Virginia requires to state the amount of the brokerage fees and how and when they are paid. Before any brokerage relationship begins, the licensee must tell you the relationship proposed and the broker's compensation, including whether it is shared.
Asking for the number carries no fee and puts no paper in front of you
Follow the money through a sale in the order it moves, and the first step is the one with none. The valuation carries no cost and no obligation, and asking for one is not the same as listing.
The valuation is an opinion of value, a term defined under opinion of value. What to send, how the answer arrives and whether asking ties you to a listing afterward are all on the free valuation page.
It is not an appraisal either, and what separates the two is worked through in why the valuation is not an appraisal.
Distance does not change the price of asking. An owner who has never lived near the parcel sends the same details and gets the same no-cost answer, and how the rest of a sale runs from out of state is covered in working with owners who live out of state.
Before any relationship begins, the broker's pay has to be named, including any share
If an owner decides to go further, the next point where money comes up is a conversation, and Virginia makes its content a duty rather than a courtesy.
Prior to entering into any brokerage relationship provided for in this article, a licensee shall advise the prospective client of (i) the type of brokerage relationship proposed by the broker and (ii) the broker's compensation and whether the broker will share such salary or compensation with another broker who may have a brokerage relationship with another party to the transaction.
Va. Code 54.1-2136
Two things in that sentence are worth slowing down for. The compensation to be named is the broker's. And the licensee has to say whether any of it will be shared with another broker, such as one working for a buyer. An owner hears both before a relationship begins, not after a contract is on the table.
The order matters because Va. Code 54.1-2137 also puts the written agreement ahead of the work: except where that article provides otherwise, brokerage services wait for it. So the conversation about pay comes first, the signed agreement comes second, and the brokerage services come after both.
The written brokerage agreement is where the fee is set, with its amount and when it is paid
The fee finally takes a written form in the brokerage agreement, which on a sale is usually called a listing agreement. Va. Code 54.1-2137 C requires brokerage agreements to be in writing and to state the amount of the brokerage fees and how and when they are to be paid, along with the services the licensee will render.
The amount, the timing and the services sit side by side in the same document, so an owner reads what is being paid for on the same page as what is being paid. For this office's listings, the commission terms go into that written agreement ahead of any listing, and no rate or figure is printed on this site. Everything else a Virginia brokerage agreement must say, including how it ends, is on what a brokerage agreement has to include.
| Step | Money | What governs it |
|---|---|---|
| Asking for a valuation | No fee, nothing to sign | This office's own terms |
| Before any brokerage relationship | The broker's compensation, and any sharing with another broker, is disclosed | Va. Code 54.1-2136 |
| The brokerage agreement | The amount of the fees and how and when they are paid, in writing | Va. Code 54.1-2137 C |
| When the fee is paid | However and whenever the agreement states | The signed agreement |
The brokerage fee is not the only cost a sale carries. Who pays the costs that come due at settlement, and which of those costs fall to a seller, is a separate subject, answered in who pays closing costs in Virginia.
Want a number on the property before anyone mentions listing terms?
Send the address or tax map number and what you want to know. The valuation costs nothing, and any listing fee would come later, in writing, only if you decide to go further. No cost, no obligation.
Got it. Thank you.
We'll be in touch shortly with an honest read.
Questions this raises
Why does the Virginia Code mention a fee if the valuation is free?
Va. Code 54.1-2010 A 1 is an exemption from Virginia's appraiser chapter for a licensed broker or salesperson who, in the ordinary course of business, provides a valuation or analysis of real estate for a fee. Its words describe a valuation given for a fee and do not address one given at no cost. The no-cost number from this office is still an opinion of value, never an appraisal.
When does a licensee have to explain how the broker gets paid?
Before entering into any brokerage relationship. Va. Code 54.1-2136 requires a licensee to advise the prospective client of the type of relationship the broker proposes and of the broker's compensation, including whether the broker will share it with another broker who may represent another party to the transaction.
Where this page's facts come from
Every rule, office and figure above traces to one of these. Rules change; check the office before you act on one.
- Va. Code 54.1-2010, exemptions from the appraiser chapter Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2136, disclosure of the brokerage relationship proposed and the broker's compensation Virginia General Assembly
- Va. Code 54.1-2137, commencement of brokerage relationships; brokerage agreements in writing Virginia General Assembly